1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color filter that functions both in a reflective display mode and a transmissive display mode, a method of manufacturing such color filter, a method of depositing a liquid material to manufacture such color filter, a display device having such color filter, a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device having such color filter, an electro-optic device having such color filter, an electronic instrument having such color filter, and to a method of manufacturing such electronic instrument.
2. Background Information
A liquid crystal display device is known to be equipped with a color filter that functions both as a reflective display by using external light and a transmissive display by using a backlight. When such conventional liquid crystal display device functions as a reflective display, colored light is obtained when the incoming light from outside passes through coloring layers that are provided for color-display purposes. Accordingly, the display is inevitably darkened because the incoming light is partially absorbed by the coloring layers. To prevent this problem, it has been known to provide in portions of the coloring layers colorless openings and reflecting films that correspond to the openings, such that part of the incoming light passes through the openings to be reflected at the reflecting films as colorless light without being absorbed by the coloring layers. By mixing the colorless light with the colored light, it is possible to obtain a brighter display than the case where all incoming light passes through the coloring layers and becomes colored. For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. H11-183892 (FIG. 1) shows such structure.
A liquid crystal display device is also known to be able to switch between the reflective display mode and the transmissive display mode as needed, as seen in, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2001-33778 (FIGS. 1 and 2).
However, in the known arrangements described above, in the reflective display mode, the light entering from outside is reflected after passing through the coloring layers and again passes through the coloring layers, thus passing through the coloring layers twice, such that the outputted colored light has enough color saturation. On the other hand, in the transmissive display mode, the light from the light source passes through the coloring layers only once, resulting in different degrees of color saturation in the reflective display mode and the transmissive display mode. More specifically, the colored light in the reflective display mode is perceived as being more saturated. In other words, the display device has a different color balances in the reflective display mode and in the transmissive display mode.
Furthermore, since each coloring layer has a reflective portion and a transmissive portion and the transmissive portion is an opening within the reflective portion, a step portion at the boundary between the reflective portion and the transmissive portion is inevitably formed. When a color filter element is formed on such step portion using an inkjet device or other discharging device, the area near the step portion is sometimes not covered by the color filter material.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved a color filter, a method for manufacturing a color filter, a display device having such color filter, a method of discharging a liquid material to manufacture such color filter, an electro-optic device having such color filter, an electronic instrument having such color filter; a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, and a method of manufacturing an electronic instrument, that overcome the problems of the aforementioned known art. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.